Dronfield woman jailed over assault on another woman in 'sustained and unprovoked' pub attack

A Dronfield woman has been jailed following an unprovoked attack on another female in a pub in the town.
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Simone Rymer appeared before Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, September 23, after previously admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The incident happened inside the Yew Tree pub, in Holmley Lane, Coal Aston, Dronfield, on November 17 last year.

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Prosecuting, Lynn Bickley told the court that the other woman, who was not known to Rymer, had been playing on a bingo machine when the defendant punched her from behind.

Simone Rymer was jailed when she appeared before Chesterfield Magistrates' Court.Simone Rymer was jailed when she appeared before Chesterfield Magistrates' Court.
Simone Rymer was jailed when she appeared before Chesterfield Magistrates' Court.

She said: “The victim was a regular customer at the pub and she had been in there for about 45 minutes and was only on her second pint of lager.

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“She felt a sharp pain to the side of her face and the defendant then launched herself at the victim and hit her to the face and grabbed her around the neck. The landlord tried to seperate them but she swung over the top of him and hit her in the face again. She was shouting things like, ‘do you know who I am?’ and ‘do you know who my partner is?’.

“The landlord was eventually able to push her out of the pub and said she was acting like an animal, scratching and hissing.”

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The court heard that Rymer, 47, of Brown Lane, Coal Aston, had a similar previous conviction for an unprovoked attack on a taxi driver.

Mitigating, Rashid Majid said Rymer has no recollection of the incident and had drunk a bottle-and-a-half of wine before entering the pub.

“Her daughter came back and told her there had been an incident that she had been involved in, and she called the police herself but at that time there was no record of it.”

Sentencing Rymer to 18 weeks in prison, District Judge Jonathan Taaffe said: “You have got into a drunken state and walked into a pub and delivered a sustained attack on a woman you didn't know. If this had been an isolated incident I could have dealt with it in the community, but it isn’t an isolated incident, it is the second time you have carried out an unprovoked attack on someone you don’t know.”

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He also ordered Rymer to pay £500 in compensation and issued a two-year restraining order.

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